Y E A R 8 – F O R C E S

MASS AND WEIGHT

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

• Mass is a measure of how much matter an object has. Weight is a measure of how strongly gravity pulls on that matter.

• Thus if you were to travel to the moon your weight would change because the pull of gravity is weaker there than on Earth but, your mass would stay the same because you are still made up of the same amount of matter.

AIM

• To accurately use a beam balance and spring balance to find the mass and weight of different objects

EQUIPMENT

• 1 beam balance• 1 spring balance• 1 gauze mat• 1 pencil case• 1 mobile phone• 1 test tube peg

RISK ASSESSMENT

Risk Injury Prevention

Fill out a risk assessment for your experiment

METHOD

1. Use the beam balance to measure the mass of each of the objects.

2. Use the spring balance to measure the weight of each object.

3. Record all your measurements in a table.

RESULTS

Object Mass measured from beam balance (g)

Weight measured from spring balance (N)

gauze mat

pencil case

mobile phone

test tube peg

DISCUSSION

1. State the maximum mass that could be recorded using the beam balance.

2. State the maximum weight that could be recorded using the spring balance.

3. Explain how mass and weight are different.

CONCLUSION

• Write your conclusion here.